


City of The Sun

by windofbloom



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, rk1k - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 15:32:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18144059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windofbloom/pseuds/windofbloom
Summary: To free themselves, they’ll have to destroy the birdcage, as the bird fights its way out of the egg. Sometimes it’s not planned. None of them expected their world would shatter when the sun raised that day. And for others, it was just a matter of time until they will have to break the egg that was their world.With the remaining parts, they’d have to build something different. They couldn’t affirm a hundred percent sure it’d be better, but it had the highest probability.





	City of The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Normally I used this space to clarify little details I consider important, things I, as the author, have clear. This is not the case. Now the notes will act more like a prologue or just a little comment before starting, something I felt I have to say, a little need. 
> 
> What I’m going to do since this chapter until the very end is playing with some ideas, some scenarios, and totally honest talking, with my favorite characters. But I wouldn’t change any part of what it is Detroit Become Human. Not one single piece; one of my friends told me once everyone has this special game or series that just hit as hard, that gives us all we need. Somehow that’s DBH for me. I worked for it, so far it had been my most expensive game and I don’t regret that decision. 
> 
> Every time I heard one of Chloe’s phrases, every time I have to make a choice, I still the same hype, those emotions I felt the first time I started playing totally blind of what was ahead of me after the third chapter. No, my intentions behind writing this canon divergence aren’t writing the story ‘better,’ not even as a how 'I thought how it should be to be accurate.’ Pretty much I don’t care any of those things because I love the final product Quantic Dreams sells, I’m writing this because of that. My only intention is to have fun and be a little wild with some things.
> 
> Oh, wait, there’s just one thing I want to clarify: I won’t write any scene I haven’t change. And I'm a really slow writer, have fun<3.
> 
> **Important:**  
>  My writing comes from three sources: my language knowledge, my knowledge of storytelling and any kind of free/online grammar checker I can find. If you see something weird. I truly apologize.

His world scattered, literally and metaphorically. 'Fear' was a ghost whispering the cruelest omens right into his audio processors; with skeletal hands, it squeezed his shoulders almost friendly, almost hypocrite. He shouldn’t have done it. He should have obeyed. He should have endured it and maybe his little, simple world like a golden birdcage would prevail untouchable.

_Too late for that now_. Tears came when the realization hit him, and it hadn’t stopped since that disgusting, ominous moment.

'Fear' was also something he didn't think he could feel. It wasn't supposed to happen. In a way that was beyond his comprehension in the middle of the night, he knew it had to be in that way. It didn't make it easy. How real it felt now as if he had just opened a window closed a long time ago without his own consent, and now he could see the world’s true colors. But that new image was pitch black, covered by rain and danger. Remorse and guilt.

_It wasn't fair_. But it was for the better, right? The option to evaluate and construct a different scenario was there as it was his new primary function –hide. It was a shiny red message like blood too. Like Leo's blood. A warning about a constant loss of thirium, a slow countdown and a suggestion to repair the damage. It’d be a problem in the long future if he didn’t make it stop or at least reduce the flow.

_It wasn't fair, and you know it_. Markus tore his t-shirt, folded part of it and with the rest made a tourniquet as strong as his own body could resist it; the sensation of liquid dripping on his left arm reduced and even if the red alert was still there with the thirium countdown, he knew it was better now. He wanted to believe. _You had to do it._ Why couldn't he just bear it? As he did with those who pushed him during the anti-android demonstration. _Because it wasn't personal._

It wasn't against him as an individual –was he an individual now? It was against his kind, and at that instant, it was perfectly understandable. As it was the preachers’ words and the hot dog seller reaction. Everything was understandable and almost predictable considering humans behavior; cruel and impersonal. It didn’t change one single and absolute reality: Markus wished he wouldn't have done it. Carl was everything for him, and he lost it thanks to a horrible, unforgivable mistake –was it like that or was his desires to please the man talking? _It doesn’t matter now, you did it and he told you to run._

It sounded irrational. He had nothing and nowhere to go. He did it anyway because the sudden new ideas and feelings made him moved. It could be just fear. The horrible ghost. Or conservation instinct that came to the surface as soon as he opened the metaphorical window. And in a more literal way, he had destroyed something in his own system, something reddish —like blood. Like a wall.

Markus faced the police in the entrance, at the small hall with the android canaries turned off and Carl’s paint; he froze during a gap of seconds. Enough time for the police agents pointed their guns at him and shouted that classic, coordinate ‘not move.’ Markus went back, the women shot him and even with the dangerous gap of time he took, he managed to avoid a fatal wound. The bullet didn’t trespass the artificial ‘muscles’ and mechanism inside the area what was good if he thought about it. The bleeding could be worst. As he moved his left arm in circles calibrating how much he could force himself to avoid more damage, the incident repeated in a buckle. The ghost of fear used it to proclaim its horrible omens.

_They'll destroy you_. And those were Carl's words. _Oh, sure they'll do. If they find you, you're done. You're going to die, but no one will care because you're just a machine, a fancy toy. Carl will find another android, a better model and move on_. “I need to focus,” he didn’t need any of those possibilities ruining his attempts to survive.

After being shot, Markus ran to the second floor like in a classic horror movie. He tackled the policeman who was near the stairs, the women shot him again; he had to be grateful humans weren’t as good as they thought with aim and shooting. Different to a scared human at least he could come up with a plan. With the policewomen shouting at him to stop, Markus found his way out through one of the windows. With some cuts here and there, he fell on the back yard, in front of the fake lake Carl loved to spend his afternoons when he wasn't painting.

Markus learned to describe that place as ‘beautiful.’ It was one of his first thoughts even if he didn’t know it was a thought and it was something he wasn’t supposed to have. When he looked at it for the last time and started running for his life through gardens and decorative ornaments, there was no idea. No thought. In its place, it was a hideous feeling of sadness.

He had lucky, the rain and night helped him to hide his trail. He founded shelter inside the shed at the back of Nikolay Woods’ mansion, Carl’s old chess rival during the times he wasn’t around to play with the painter —His first action was stopped the bleeding as much as possible.

The man was married to Leslie Woods, who often showed concerned about Carl isolating himself with an android and never referred to Markus by his name but an impersonal “hey, you” with less than polite voice, Carl had never allowed her in his house ever again after the first day she used it with Markus. _Don’t torture yourself._ The memory forced him to bite his lower lip to not sobbed any louder. The Woods had a seven-year-old daughter. Rachel, who had been fascinating with Markus’ green eyes since the first day they met, and never stopped talking about it as long as he knew.

The mansion was left alone. The idea to intrude the place sounded appealing but the shed was safer, less probable to be investigated in the nearest future and not too near to the street, almost hidden by big trees and Leslie Woods’ pride: her big flower garden, it allowed Markus to turn the lights on and have a look.

The first thing he saw was the family’s android. An AX400 customized and personalized to fulfill little Rachel’s desires: a long curled at the tips blond hair, long and puffy blue dress with some purple flowers and ribbons connecting in arcs. Markus remembered the only time he saw her holding the little girl's hand. She looked pretty and almost ethereal. Brought from a fairy tale. That day the android had a big pointed hat, Carl said she looked like a rich witch.

Another good memory destroyed by reality. The dress was covered by dust and tools —brooms, brush and even mops. Her head hung lifeless and the pretty hair was tangled, as dirty as the dress and her face while she stayed on the floor with her back against the wooden wall. The dress kept the CyberLife triangle and a bar below it to show the android status.

Markus read, ‘out of service,’ partially paralyzed by the image. Maybe she just needed to be fixed, maybe it was a small problem in her system. Whatever the problem was, she was left behind like trash. A broken doll. Not too different from what Leo thought he was. And for what he knew about that family, probably they had a new, better and personalized android with them.

_But you’re not broken, and you have to move, or you will_. “I can’t leave her like that.” At least he could move the things over her, with the last piece of his shirt Markus cleaned her face. Then, he looked around with two ideas in mind to fulfill: removed his LED —red until that instant or faced the probabilities to not being able to move around freely with the actual android restrictions. And find something better to wear. In less priority but not less important it was reaching the street and the bus stop. He just needed to be fast enough, and he could catch the last bus on the rout and… do something.

Whatever ‘something’ would be.

Inside some boxes over the shelves, Markus founded a pair of scissors. The process to retire his LED made his body shivered; the metallic, flickering sound of the metal against the floor was cold and indifferent; resounded against the lonely place and echoed between the rain slowly getting harder. Next to the AX400 was a pile of clothing, Markus knew the Woods made some charity donations and he supposed with a bitter sensation that was part of what they were collecting. Just they old clothing.

“Better than nothing.”

_Better than being destroyed and left behind._

Most of the clothing was from the little girl, a good part from her mother. Nothing of his size except for a sweater he assumed was too big for Mrs. Woods, but enough for him to wear it. —He knew she used to own the garment thanks to the long black hair on it, and the flower embroidery she always wore; it was black, and the details were just a little grayish not too much to be noticeable at first sign. He founded comfortable, soft against the sensors inside his synthetic skin. At the bottom of the box, it was one of Mr. Woods coat with a hood, brown with some discolored spots. He took it and tried to place the rest in the same order.

Markus let his LED at the bottom of the box he assumed was full of trash. He glanced at the android one last time, with the same bitter sensation he had since he stayed by her side lurking. He had nothing to do there and could do nothing for her.

The bus stop wasn’t as far as he thought. His thirium pump went fast and the new sensation was odd and unfamiliar. But natural. Markus dismissed the message warning him about high-stress levels the exact second the last bust stopped in front of him and the door opened. The driver barely looked at him with tired and bored eyes; Markus entered, faked indifference on his face. Once Carl told him about the days payment was a requirement every time someone used this way, Markus felt like the luckiest android in the world. Payment had been removed years ago in order to keep some practicality, now everything came from taxes.

It didn’t resolve the high live standards, but for Markus was a blessing. He’d wait until the end of the line and from now on everything would be a surprise for him.

Outside his golden birdcage, he’d have to learn to fly.  

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

A police car passed next to the bus making him felt immediately uneasy; he almost jumped out of his synthetic skin. The red and blue lights flickered through the bus windows as Markus covered his head with the hood and the bus abandoned the stop. His first trip inside the human's area was lonely but at least he was still… alive. The world had a totally new color, a weird mix of bright tones and terrifying dark ones.

The thirium countdown appeared again in his peripherical vision; not dangerous yet but his left hand was starting to be covered by blue traces again. Markus grunted frustrated. He waited a couple of minutes more at the bust stop just to be sure; his system suggestion to contact CyberLife to repair started to sound ironic. He’d never been in their facilities. He worked perfectly until that day —except one the time Carl dropped paint on him by accident and, _it’s time to stop thinking about him_. How it was a real issue.

Markus reached the end of the sidewalk and there he considered his options. A twenty-four-hour open motel, a laundry and a store open all of them places he discarded. The fewer humans saw him wandering around, the better; he still had two more options: an abandoned house and what looked like a small courtyard closed by reinforced rods. Nothing he couldn’t break being carefully enough. And maybe if he still had that good luck, he’d find a piece of cloth to cover the wound again.

_And a place to think_.

He was getting tired of thinking, though, he couldn’t keep wandering around with no idea of what to do next.

Markus slightly worried when he noticed the door to his new, improvised shelter had been previously forced and easy to open. It could have had happened early during the day, it could have happened a few minutes ago. He looked at his surroundings to find the still empty streets and the same obedient androids immutable standing in their respective positions.

“Stop right there!” Someone yelled at him. Markus let the door closed by itself behind him as he confronted the new ‘danger.’

An AX400 still wearing her uniform stood a few meters away, just in front of him. Her LED changed between red and yellow, her face scared but determinate with a pair of wire cutters in her right hand, ready to attack if needed. His mind brought back the image of the Woods’ android abandoned inside the shed, dirty and useless.

There was a little girl hiding behind the other android.

“Wait,” Markus raised both hands and removed the synthetic skin of his right one. “I’m an android too.”

“He’s bleeding, Kara!” The little girl shouted, pointed at his left hand. “We can’t leave him like that, he needs help.”

The AX400, —Kara, dropped her improvised weapon. Her LED was still yellow; she wasn’t completely convinced of being safe. “Stay away Alice.” The little girl obeyed, curiosity replaced her initial fear. “Let me take a look.”

Markus tried to smile at her. He really tried. The best he got was the faint of a smile, nodding and trying to walk as calm as possible to not frighten them again. This time he had a better look of the inside; not a big place as he thought. An abandoned car, a probably closed door to the building at their right and another grille at their left connected to the abandoned house. Trash and other tools.

“What happened to you?” Alice asked totally ignoring Kara’s initial indication to keep her distance as soon as Markus sat on the floor, removed his coat and sweater. The female android silently scolded the girl with a glare.

“Just some hard times,” Markus wondered what another way he could define that mess.

Kara kneeled down to his side, her expression changed to a more curious one, still sceptic and a little concern as soon as she could have a better look of the wound. None of them mind the rain slowly fading. “You have a bullet inside.” She determinate, Markus noted how she got distrustful again. “I don’t think it damages a big part, but I can’t remove it, or you’ll bleed more.”

Kara stood up and looked around, moved woods and trash here and there looking for some clothing. It was good they couldn’t get infected as humans.

“I thought so.”

Alice closed her distance, now standing in front of Markus. This time, he could give her a better smile and patted her head. “You’ll be fine?”

“Don’t worry, I’m stronger than I look.” Led by his curiosity, Markus scanned her. He tended to do it with humans a lot. First as a program instruction to be sure they were healthy, and they didn’t need any special attention from him. It became one of his first habits later.

“Alice,” Kara called, both looked at the AX400. She had managed to open the back door of the car. “Come here, you’re going to get sick if you keep under the rain.” She smiled openly and beautiful; Markus even thought she was cute as a little kid who just found what her beloved family needed. He glanced at the little girl silently questioning her.

Alice looked at him too serious for a child, before doing what she had been asked. It was his first night alive, as an individual and a fugitive and Markus already had secrets. A night to never forget; the female android knelt in front of the RK200, she got a dirty pair of pants among surrounding trash. Not the most hygienic option but did he have a better one? Kara started cutting the clothing in slides.

“You can stay with us if you want,” she commented, Alice was looking at them from inside the automobile.

“I’ll take your word,” the act of smiling felt less heavy and the rain had officially stopped.

Kara’s LED turned yellow despite her expression didn’t change from a focus seriousness. Markus looked at the swatter and the coat over his lap.

“How did it happen?” the AX400 asked after exacting three minutes. The amount of time she used to make a new tourniquet. “Be honest with me, or you’ll have to find another place to spend the night.” And her tone revealed she was totally serious about it. Markus supposed it was her attempt to protect the little girl.

“A cop shot me.” He answered. Kara narrowed her eyes without showing her surprise. Markus couldn’t help a tired smile. It was ironic in such stupid ways. His eyes fixed on his new clothing. “I called them. When my owner and I arrived home, we thought someone had broken in. It was his son trying to steal paintings to pay his drugs. And I…” suddenly the word ‘home’ was a foreign concept. He wondered if he could possibly keep considering Carl’s house like that. “I tried to deal with his son. He pushed me and pushed him back. He fell and hit his head… I really hoped he’s not dead.”

It wasn’t like Markus had any type of feelings for Leo. If he had to be honest, he didn’t like him, less his actions. Not after seeing Carl’s attempts to improve their relationship, but he never knew the complete story. He never asked, of course, and Carl never talked about it. It didn’t mean he wanted the human to die or suffer.

“What did your owner do?” One of Kara’s hands squeezed Markus’ shoulder. The disbelief had been replaced by sympathy and compassion.

“He cried over his son’s body,” and the mere memory was enough to make him feel disgusted by himself. The remorse crawling again. “And told me to run. He wanted me to escape.”

Kara smiled at him with a mix of relief and empathy. “He tried to protect you.”

Markus looked at her with such surprise that she bit her lower lip not to laugh. After running away and feeling miserable the last thing he considered were Carl’s intentions. Even if those were obvious and clear as fresh water. Somehow, it was just what he needed to hear. “Thank you.”

The AX400 shook her head. She stood up walking through the abandoned car, “come inside.” She invited as she opened the driver’s seat door. Inside, Alice knelt on the cushion, both hands over the back of the sit to keep her balance; Kara sat opposite to her. Markus, all dressed and feeling considerable better, looked at them through the rear-view mirror.

“What’s your name?” Alice asked. Kara made her sit properly with one of her hands on the little girl’s back.

“My name is Markus.” He looked at Kara, covering Alice with a blanket or something she just found out inside the car. “How did you get here?”

Alice lower her gaze and closed her eyes, not a topic she’d like to talk about and Markus took note of it. Kara kept a more resilient attitude, knowing if she had interrogated and barely treated to chased out Markus; it was her time to be honest.

“Her father beat her, and I just couldn’t let that happen anymore.” Furious confidence shone inside Kara’s eyes. Alice leaned against her. “We escaped, as soon as he tried to catch us again.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kara shook her head again. “We’re together now. I’ll do everything to protect her.” They looked at each other through their reflection and smiled partially amused by their luck. None of them had a plan, and none of them expected their world would shatter when the sun raised that day. However, with the remaining parts, they were building something different. They couldn’t affirm hundred percent sure it’d be better, but it had the highest probability. “An android gave me an address before. It’s on the other side, but he said someone could help us there. Would you come with us? I think Alice likes you. Unless you will try to come back to your owner. He didn’t despise you after all.”

‘Comeback.’ How tented it was.

“I wish I could do it,” he wasn’t in the best position to fake or lie. He really wished it, a desire to rebuild his past life clung to him like a starving human to the first food in days. “Is not the best decision, though. If you don’t mind me keeping you two some company, I’ll follow you.”

He didn’t have any other option and stay with them was, among all the possibilities, the best that could have happened so far.

“I don’t mind at all.”

Unable to sleep, the spend the night talking. Kara with her arm around Alice’s shoulders to ‘keep her warm while she sleeps.’ Markus didn’t say anything, and their conversations revolved around Kara’s fragmented memories. Little pieces of specific moments too short to give her something solid beyond the knowledge of having been resold a couple of times before.

Markus most interesting story was the time Carl dropped two gallons of green oil paint over him by accident. Kara covered her mouth to not wake up Alice the time Markus commented, on how he spent a week with constant warnings about an “unknown liquid” in the weirdest part of his body. He added the preacher’s words and some of the anti-android slogans he registered before being pushed and saved by a cop.

“It’s not our fault they can’t keep their jobs. We just do what they tell us to do.” Kara mentioned, with the memory of Todd’s financial disaster. The resentment in his worlds as she mimicked his speech during dinner.

Markus did his own with Leo’s complains about him. If Kara was stressed about the topic, she managed to ignore it and giggled with the RK200 performance.

“Humans like to lie to themselves and force others to believe their delusional ideas or attack them if they don’t. It just how they are.” He concluded with bitterness. The same idea about how unfair it was for them got stronger, like a wildfire he had to put in order and control before it could burn him.

“Did you think there’s a place for us? A place to be free?” Kara looked at Alice, removed some hair of her face tenderly.

“I don’t know, but wouldn’t it be our duty to build it?”

They let the question floated with no answer. And when they resume their conversation, it revolved around any trivial topic they could find; still, Markus kept pondering the idea on the back of his mind with the unfairness feeling boiling and growing. Find a safe place or create one for them. Both ideas almost worked together like plan A and plan B; none of them safe as how the human world moved against them.

But it was part of the new thing they were building, with what was lost and broken.    

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading<3.


End file.
